Back to School Planning Tip #5: Bulletin Boards

Even though it’s only the middle of July, lots of teachers are getting ready with their back to school planning. Of course teachers love summer, but we also love getting our thoughts and plans together for the excitement of the new school year. A lot of the planning can be done anytime in the summer, from inside your air conditioned house or outside by the pool with a glass of lemonade.

However you are planning, I will be counting down my top five areas to consider for your own back to school planning.

5. Bulletin Boards – What teacher doesn’t LOVE bulletin boards? Your bulletin board can be centered on the students, curriculum, or a certain theme. I like to start the year off with a bulletin board that focusing on using reading strategies or positive study habits- something that the students can refer back to for a while as we learn together.

This Tools for Success bulletin board highlights several positive habits and classroom expectations that are great to teach right at the beginning of the school year. Classroom teachers, resource room teachers, and school guidance counselors can use it to refer to these skills continuously as the school year goes on.

Another simple strategy for making a bulletin board is to just use posters with a similar theme and put them together. You can do this with reading strategy posters, positive character posters, or steps to finding success in your classroom. The free posters below can be put together to make a bulletin board focused on a positive, peaceful learning community.

You can also let the kids themselves help you make the bulletin board. By letting students fill out worksheets that are all about them, you can put those worksheets up on your bulletin board as part of a theme. It can be a fun first day activity for the kids and help everyone get to know each other in the process.

It’s also fun to come up with a catchy cute theme. Some of my favorite fun bulletin board statements I’ve come across so far this year are:

• “Today a Reader, Tomorrow a Leader” (Reading theme)
• “We are O-FISH-ally in ____ Grade” (Fish or underwater theme)
• “We are going to CRUSH Grade ___” (Candy Crush theme)
• “Popping into ____ Grade” (Popcorn theme)
• “Our Top Dogs” (Dogs theme, see below)

 Happy bulletin board planning! Stay tuned for my number 4 back to school planning idea!